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Halloween 2018: John Carpenter's Score Gets Its Own Teaser

A teaser has been released for John Carpenter’s Halloween (2018) score. Carpenter is a sacred name among genre fans for directing such classics as the original Halloween, The Thing,Escape From New York and many others. Carpenter often composed the soundtracks to his own movies, often implementing moody synth tracks in his work to heighten the tension and suspense. His Halloween theme is considered an iconic horror theme - but he’s since confessed it only took him around an hour to create.

Carpenter wrote and directed the first Halloween, but he never intended for it to become a long-running franchise. He was contractually bound to work on 1981’s Halloween II, where he acted as producer and screenwriter, and he made sure to burn Michael to a crisp in the finale to prevent further sequels. When the studio asked for another anyway, he tried to turn the series into an anthology with Halloween III: Season Of The Witch. That entry told an all-new story and while it's well regarded now, it was hated by fans who wanted more Michael Myers. Carpenter has been absent from the series since then, but was lured back by Blumhouse for 2018's reboot of Halloween.

Halloween will wipe the slate clean by ignoring all the other sequels and following the events of the original film only. Carpenter acted as executive producer and composer on the new Halloween, and now a sample of his score has been released from Sacred Bones Records. See the teaser above.

John Carpenter seems to have semi-retired from filmmaking and hasn’t directed a feature since 2010’s The Ward. In recent years, he’s transitioned to music instead and has produced two albums of original material dubbed Lost ThemesI and II. These albums were produced in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, who also worked with him on the new Halloween score. The teaser makes the soundtrack feel like a mix between his work on the original Halloween score and some of his more recent, experimental work.

Blumhouse is making a big effort to ensure Halloween feels like a genuine companion to the first movie, which will be released in time to celebrate the franchise’s 40th anniversary. In addition to Carpenter, original heroine Jamie Lee Curtis is returning as Laurie Strode and even Nick Castle - who played Michael Myers in Halloween - will reprise the character for a couple of sequences. Having a new score by Carpenter should definitely make the new sequel feel like the real deal, and it will be his first score for a movie since 2001’s unloved Ghosts Of Mars.